Shuttered factories and trade deals helped turn working-class Midwesterners against Democrats. Will the high cost of housing do the same in the Sun Belt?
Listen to this article · 8:54 min Learn more
- Share full article
- 111
Construction for a new residential community in Henderson, Nev., last month. The cost of living has risen sharply across the Sun Belt, leaving many working-class voters reeling and distrustful of politicians.
The promise of the American dream has shimmered in Las Vegas for as long as the city has existed. That hope of a stable middle-class life has attracted would-be homeowners from California, sun-seekers from the East and immigrants from all over the world.
But for many voters here, it now feels like a mirage. In a state that relies on hourly wage workers in tourism and service jobs, many cannot find an affordable place to live.
The result is a well of cynicism, frustration and anger — with national consequences.
Presidential elections have long been shaped by economic discontent in the emptying, industrial towns of the Midwest.
This year could be the first in decades to turn on the Sun Belt version.
It’s not the exodus of steel companies or auto manufacturers that has left workers reeling, but a long-festering housing problem that is yielding the same result: Many working-class voters say a promise has been broken, and they are looking for someone to blame.
In the final weeks of a deadlocked presidential campaign, there is no better place to observe this restlessness than the stuccoed neighborhoods that snake into the desert around Las Vegas. The median home price is $445,000, an increase of more than 50 percent compared with five years ago, and well out of reach for many in a region where the median income hovers around $70,000. Rents average $2,000 in a city where many workers make less than $20 an hour.
Many once-reliable Democrats say the issue has eroded their trust in politicians. In the state’s Democratic hub, that means turning away from Vice President Kamala Harris.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Source: nytimes.com
